


No Indemnity

by Verasteine



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Episode Related, Episode Tag, Episode: s02e23 Ua Hala (Death In the Family), M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-18
Updated: 2012-05-18
Packaged: 2018-02-21 22:35:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2484746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verasteine/pseuds/Verasteine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny finds Steve on his doorstep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Indemnity

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, this is the obligatory coda for 2.23. I'm sure it won't be the last fic I write about that ep. My gratitude to [](http://theellibu.livejournal.com/profile)[**theellibu**](http://theellibu.livejournal.com/) and [](http://eumelia.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://eumelia.livejournal.com/)**eumelia** for betaing this one. Enjoy.

He finds Steve on his doorstep.

After the longest twenty four hours of his life, after racing to find Kono and waiting for news on Malia, after starting the biggest manhunt on the island to find Delano, when Danny finally has time to go home to shower and change his shirt, he comes up the stairs to find Steve sitting on his doorstep.

He's curled up against the doorjamb, resting his head on his arm, a bag by his side.

Danny stops dead in his tracks at the sight of him. "What the hell? You couldn't call me? You have to sit here and give me a heart attack?"

Steve looks up at Danny's words. "Hey," Steve says, and the word is raspy and near-inaudible.

"Yeah, hey." Danny pulls his keys out of his pocket to open the door and is perturbed to find that while Steve's eyes are tracking him, he's not getting up. "You wanna come in, buddy? Seeing as you're sitting here waiting for me; I'm going to presume that's what you were doing."

"Yeah." Steve unfolds, slowly, pulls himself up by the doorjamb and then wavers. "Yeah." He bends to pick up his bag and Danny swears he hears Steve's spine pop as he does. Then Steve follows him into the one room apartment that's Danny's residence of the month.

He stands in the centre of Danny's living room and doesn't move. Danny looks him up and down discreetly, but can't spot any injuries. "Babe? You wanna sit down, maybe?"

"Yeah." Steve sits on the edge of a chair, leans his elbows on his knees, and rubs his face with his hands.

"You want something to drink?" Danny offers.

Steve lifts his head. "You got any coffee?"

"Stupid question," Danny replies, flicking the kettle on. He busies himself with making the drinks, focusing on the task to keep himself from turning around and yelling at Steve. When he's done and he hands Steve the mug, he realises Steve's hands are trembling as he accepts it.

He sits down across from Steve. "I tried to call you; did you listen to your voicemail?"

Steve shakes his head, takes a slow sip. He's got both hands wrapped around the mug to keep it steady. "Danny, I--"

"There's things you need to know," Danny cuts in, "things that happened while you were in Japan. Again."

"Look, I'm sorry, I--" Steve stops, blinks. "Wait, what? What happened?"

Danny takes him in, wonders just what the hell Steve has been doing and if it has anything to do with what happened in Honolulu. "Malia and Kono are in the hospital," he says, and then adds, "Delano kidnapped them."

" _What_?"

"Yeah." Danny waves a hand around, not even trying to find a shape for how fucked up this is. "He's still at large. Chin... Chin is taking this about as well as you can expect, he--" Danny sucks in a breath. "Steve, Delano made him choose."

Steve hisses as hot liquid sloshes over his hand and he drops the mug as he stares at Danny, shattering it on Danny's cheap carpet and spilling coffee everywhere. His eyes are wide and he swallows, swallows again, opens his mouth but no words come out.

Danny starts, getting up from the sofa, and grabs Steve by the wrist, yanking him into the kitchen. He quickly runs the tap and thrusts Steve's hand under the spray. "Here. Stay like this."

Steve nods, and Danny can feel him shudder in his grip, shivers that have nothing to do with the burns on his skin and the cold water, and everything with-- what, exactly? He grabs a roll of kitchen towels and heads back to the living area to clear up the spill, gathering the shards of ceramic and chucking them in the trash.

When he returns, Steve is still standing there, hand under the cold water, shaking quietly. Danny reaches past him, turns off the tap, and pulls Steve's hand towards himself. He carefully pats the skin dry and inspects it. "You'll be okay."

"I'm sorry, Danny," Steve says, and his voice is uncharacteristically thin. "I'm sorry, I-- I'm sorry."

"Yeah." Steve looks smaller than his usual size, and Danny squeezes his arm. "What's going on, babe?"

Steve looks wrecked when he meets Danny's gaze, eyes full of anguish. "It's-- I--"

"What happened in Japan, Steve?"

"My mother--"

Steve looks like he wants to say more, but the words aren't coming out. He looks at Danny helplessly, lost in a way Danny's never seen him, not even at his worst. "What about your mother? What happened, Steve?"

Steve sucks in a shuddering breath. "She's-- she's alive," he forces out.

Danny stares. " _What_?"

"I saw her. I talked to her. She's in Japan, she's Shelburne, she's been there all this time, I--"

His voice cracks and no more words come out. Danny reaches for him without thinking and Steve comes into his arms, muffles his face against Danny's neck, clinging with fingers digging into Danny's shoulder. All Danny can do is hold him as the world rearranges itself; Steve's mother alive, Steve's seen her, spoken to her, everything about Steve's life tilted 180 degrees on its axle.

"D-Danny," Steve says, and his voice is broken and clogged, "I can't-- can't--"

"Can't what?" Danny leans back far enough to look him in the eye, and he's not surprised by the silent tear tracks on Steve's face. "Hey, talk to me."

"Can't stay at the house." Steve rubs a hand over his eyes, brushes the tears from his face. "Fuck, I-- I don't know where to go."

"You can stay here," Danny says at once. "Babe, hey, you can always come to me."

"I knew you'd be pissed, I should have waited but you didn't pick up the phone, Danny, you didn't answer."

Steve squeezes his eyes shut, presses his hand into them. Danny reaches out to tug it away. "Hey. Forget about that, I'll yell at you later."

Steve smiles through the tears for a moment, but it doesn't last; his face crumbles again. Danny reels him back in, holds him close, feels Steve fight the sobs. When he draws a calmer breath, Danny carefully steps back. "What do you need, Steve?"

"I don't know." The words are open and honest, Steve's voice still raw. "I-- god, Danny, I don't know."

"Okay." He thinks quickly, knows what he himself needs. "When did you last eat? Sleep?"

Steve shakes his head, frowns but doesn't come up with an answer, as if all of this is beyond him.

Danny sighs. "Okay, I'll go make us some food. You should get a shower. The water pressure isn't much, but it'll do you."

Steve nods, but doesn't move until Danny forcibly turns him and points him towards the bathroom, and digs him up a towel. Steve disappears into the bathroom and Danny sets about making some sandwiches, digging up a can of tuna and some mayo and, in a nod to Steve's eating habits, a few leaves of lettuce and a straggling tomato.

The water shuts off and Steve returns, wearing fresh cargoes and a clean t-shirt, his eyes red rimmed and his shoulders hunched. Danny hands him a plate, points towards the sofa, and Steve meekly sits down and takes a bite. By the time Danny puts down glasses of iced tea in front of them both and starts on his own sandwich, Steve's first half is demolished and he's on his way through his second.

"Guess you needed that," Danny comments.

Steve swallows his last bite and drains half his glass and replies, "Yeah, thanks."

He sounds vaguely more human, so Danny finishes his own food and says, "I'm just gonna go hit the shower myself. Be right back."

"Okay," Steve replies, and sits there, watching him go.

\--

The shower gives him five minutes alone to think, think about the events of the day and the revelations and everything that he can't wrap his head around. It isn't long enough to really penetrate, settle in his mind, but it's long enough to get his wits together and realise that there is very little that's keeping Steve from falling apart.

He dresses and heads back out into the living room, to find Steve standing by the window, looking out into the night. He turns upon Danny's entrance. "Thank you for doing this."

"What was I gonna do, turn you away? Come on."

Steve shrugs. "You have every reason to hate me."

Danny gestures at him. "I don't hate you."

"You hate what I did."

Danny runs a hand through his hair. "Yeah, okay, I do. Sue me, you ran out on me and left me a note. You can tell me a thousand times you did it to protect me, because you needed to do it alone, but that's not ever going to make it not suck."

Steve slumps against the wall. "And then I did it again."

"You tried to call. I'll spot you a few brownie points for that one." Danny quirks a smile at him. "Babe, we don't have to discuss this right now."

Steve shakes his head. "If I think about anything else right now, I'll go crazy."

Danny nods warily. "Okay."

"I spent the whole flight over here trying to keep it together, I just--" He shakes his head again, as if trying to rid himself of something, his voice precariously close to breaking again. "Danny--"

Something dawns on Danny. "Where was Joe?"

"What?"

"You went with Joe, you said so in your voicemail. Where is he?"

"He left. He brought me over there and then left, he wanted me to do it alone."

Danny waves a dismissive hand. "Of course he did."

"It doesn't matter, Danny, I--"

" _Don't_ defend him. Okay? Just don't. If you do, I'm going to have to say a few choice things that I don't think you're capable of hearing right now. Don't give me that tough SEAL face, you're about half an inch away from collapsing on my floor here."

Steve rubs at his eyes, doesn't argue with that. "Okay."

"It's been a long day for both of us." Danny looks at him, wondering how he's still standing. "And I'm not kidding, you look about ready to drop. How do you feel about turning in and catching a few hours' sleep?"

"I don't think I can sleep." Steve sighs, a soft, desperate sound, and Danny goes over, tugs his hand away from his face.

"Babe," he says softly, "I get that you're reeling. But let's lie down and rest, okay?"

"I--"

"Hmmm?"

Steve leans in to kiss him, softly. "I know-- Danny, after everything, I know I've no right to this, I just-- Is there a chance?"

Danny smiles. "Yeah. God, you think I give up on you this easily? I will yell at you into the next year for this, but yes, you're mine and I'm not letting you go."

Steve yanks him in unceremoniously, shudders as he buries his face in Danny's hair. Danny holds him tight, rides it out until he can feel Steve calm down. "Come on," he says softly, grabbing Steve's shirt and tugging. "Bed."

Steve follows him meekly to the bedroom, strips down and slides with him into the narrow bed. He wraps a long arm around Danny's waist, shifting closer carefully. "This okay for you?"

"Yeah." Steve shifts again, and Danny grabs hold of him, making him pause. "Come on, babe." He pulls Steve down onto his chest and wraps him up, Steve's head resting on his chest. It's perfect for Danny to run his fingers through Steve's hair.

Steve makes a soft sound, but stays in place and closes his eyes. Danny stares into the room, listening to his breathing, and blinks at the dark ceiling.

\--  
 _finis_.


End file.
